With a key location on Robertson Quay, and close to Clarkes Quay and Mohammad Sultan Road, the Gallery is a great place for being close to the food places and clubs that really swing at night. There are also two very good clubs that are part of the hotel for those that do not want to travel far.

I have stayed several times before at the futuristic Gallery hotel and grown to like its funky furniture and room layouts, and even the blocks of sandalwood used to freshen up the room. The showers, which have glass backings that are part of the room wall, are just a cool feature. The central switching system is more like an antique now than high-tech. The layout of the rooms is so different that it is cool.

I love the pool up on the fifth floor, with its glass walls that let you see down on the street from up high. The pool has always been the main draw for my stays at the Gallery, and I have used it a lot of late afternoons.

All that said, I did have a bad experience during my last stay in August, and because of it, the hotel lost my business. Having placed my reservation in online, I arrived at the hotel late in the evening after delays getting out of HCMC. The front desk informed me that the hotel only had rooms on its smoking floors. I stated that I did not want a smoking room but was left with no choice - it was all they said they had, and I took it. Having stayed there several times in the past few years, it is hard to believe that their computers did not show me as a returning customer and one who is a nonsmoker. Then again, with the general attitude of the front desk staff, it would not have made a difference anyway. A staffer was supposed to have come in and freshened up the air, but I do not think it happened. The room still reeked of chain smoking.

The breakfast at the Gallery is complimentary, but not something I would hang around for if it had not been raining. You are better off going out and finding breakfast. But though I may have disdain for most of the front hotel staff, I do have to give credit to the staff in the restaurant for being friendly and actually doing a super job. Maybe the front desk could learn from them.